Wednesday, June 24, 2015

As a college student and intern, most of my undergraduate
career has been focused on gaining experience. While I know the many benefits
that come from completing an internship, I thought that professionals might
view them differently. Since completing a number of internships, I’ve gained a
unique perspective on how interns can add value to a team of professionals.

Fresh Ideas: Interns generally don’t have a lot
of industry experience, and that lack of experience can lead to great ideas. Interns
have a clean slate when it comes to brainstorming, with that clean slate are
able to suggest ideas that may have failed with a different project but would
work with another.

New Concepts: As students, interns are learning
about the latest industry trends, new techniques and technologies. While many
professionals stay up to date with new industry practices, students are being
taught them more thoroughly. Their knowledge could give your next project an
innovative edge and help simplify some of your daily tasks.

Value at a lower cost: Interns want experience
in the basics, so they are willing to sit there and write all of the news
releases and event calendars you might need. This not only gives them the
ability to develop their skills, but allows more time for your permanent staff
members to work on different tasks.

Talent Development: Your new intern may not know
everything right away, but developing their talent could lead to a great new
hire. It eliminates a lot of training if they become a permanent staff member
after graduation. If you aren’t looking for a great new hire, there is
something to be said for mentoring the next generation and ensuring the
standards of the industry are kept.

While all the benefits may not be financial, training the
next generation of professionals is important. There are plenty of us willing
to soak up all the knowledge you can give us!

What do you look for in an intern? What value have your
interns added to your team?

Thursday, June 18, 2015

As I was scrolling through my Facebook timeline this
week I noticed that many of the posts involvepeople's pets and
their occasionally entertaining antics, at least in the eyes of my friends and family
members. This made me ponder what actually goes into crafting a good post. Not
just why dogs and cats are so popular, but what else makes a person reading or
viewing a post want to engage, or better yet share it?

I suppose we all understand the universality of pet
ownership and how most people relate to that, but what else "sells?"
If you look at the most popular or shared Facebook posts of last year, it's a
somewhat revealing list of what makes us tick, and how we are willing to invest
our precious social media time. Amazingly,
pets don't crack the top 50 until number 38, but numbers 39, 41, and 45
all involve dogs or cats, and if you really want to see a dog waiting for a
treat, tucking in a baby, or teaching a baby to jump, Google the top 50 Facebook
posts of 2014 and enjoy!Here's a quick breakdown of the list:

Universal Picture's "Minions" make
the top 5 twice, proving that everybody loves animated movie characters. The trailer for the movie "Minions" also
made the list at number 22.

Weird things couples fight about comes in
at number 8, proving that we're nothing if we're not curious about what
everybody else's relationship is like.

Speaking of movie trailers, they are also very
popular. The trailers for Furious 7, Minions, Jurassic World, Cinderella and
Fifty Shades of Grey all make the list.

What did I learn by searching and watching the 50 most
popular posts of 2014? Well, humor is important. So if your goal is to engage as many people
as possible with a Facebook post or a 140 character tweet, I don't think you
can go wrong with a quick video link featuring your dog dressed up as a minion,
or any movie character for that matter.

But if you really want to go viral, why not go all out
and spend the budget on a really good video camera, and just film everything.
At some point, something amazing or wonderful will happen, and your 15 minutes
of fame will arrive. But wait, that's just reality TV isn't it?

Friday, June 12, 2015

It would be fairly easy to come up with a long list of
things PR pros don’t like. After all, it’s human nature to complain.But I prefer to focus on the positives. So,
what makes PR pros happy?Here are my
observations along with some comments from friends and colleagues (in no
particular ranking):